we came from here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1203762/#new
This weekend I am hosting all of Debbies Daughters, the husbands, and all the grandkids. It ought to be interesting if nothing else. I built the barbeque yesterday when I got off of work and I have steaks and a few other things marinating in Nik's famous recipe marinate. Deb and I decided that if we are still doing well on Labour day 2012 that we will start making plans to get spliced in the spring. I said I'd never do that again!!
No pickled corn or beans, though; she might try to feed them to me. yeech!!
starting to cool off on the September Homestead
Thanks for starting the new thread.
Wish you and Deb well. It really does sound like she's a keeper, though, so maybe you ought to compromise on the corn and beans. Never know, your tastes might have changed. LOL
Nik, I echo what Robin said... wishing you all the best if you take that plunge again.
As far as the corn and beans... hunger always lurks just around the corner!
After the first I said I would never do it again... After the second I declared that instead of marrying I would simply buy someone a new house every five years. Now about to be 10 years with number three and I'll make no declarations - just along for the ride.
i was reading Mother Earth news and i may try some greens in the GH this winter.
Dyson isn't number 3 the charm ? :)
got a nice bottle of Paul Newmans chardanay. Sure like his products. THough this newton cookies that are to resemble OReo's are a bit nasty ? IMHO
darius you are in no way going to 71 !!! i would have guessed 61 maybe .... you look good.
well i m debating on buying more garlic ? i just don't want to spend 125.00 on it but that would be my stock for the rest of my life .... still thinking ....
and it also means i need a bigger garden plot LOLLLLl
tomorrow is farmers market day and the gosh awful mall trip with the kids. they earned some money and want to buy some things....
my DD wants to do a fund raiser with her organic tea and lemonade ( not organic ) to help kittys and puppys in shelters. soooo may do apple cider
oh its apple season here my fav !!!! got a 1/2 bushel of mcintosh.. ? spelling ? lLOLLL
We went to the Amish produce auction up by Kenton yesterday to get supplies for the shindig tomorrow. Picked up a couple dozen ears of corn, and 1/2 dozen watermelons. Since a couple of the grandkids are staying here all weekend to mow and such, I made a big batch of goetta. Those kids go nuts for goetta for breakfast. We are doing the barbeque with fruitwood vice charcoal or gas. Since there are so many kids I bought a big bag of jumbo marshmellows at Wally-world in Bellefontaine. It's gonna be a hell of a party, no matter what else happens!! that's for sure.
I saw those marshmallows yesterday (chocolate and white swirl), but refrained from buying them. I have no self-control when I'm stressed.
Sue, Eliot Coleman grows greens, carrots, etc in his greenhouses to harvest over the winter. You need to start planting them soon though. Cool about DD's fundraiser. :)
We were in the garden a bit this morning, but it's just too hot and humid for me to handle. High today 101, tomorrow 89 and Monday 68, followed by a couple of 71's. WhooHoo! Not placing any bets on getting any rainfall this week.
Our Texas friends, sorry it looks like it's missing you. Cricket, hope you're water tight with the new house.
Darius, I saw your post on the Cheese thread about Lee and Katia and potential flooding. The projected paths according to the weather channel look like they could converge in the North Carolina or Virginia area. Please be careful and keep us posted.
Will do, Robin. Sure makes me wish I had moved the garden higher a year ago!
Congratulation Nik, sounds like a fun party...and may the marriage party last for years!
Hoping someone, anyone in Texas is benefiting from the storm. Just wind here and haven't seen the news in days, been too hectic. Hope everyone in it's path stays safe.
The broilers arrived Sat. morning. Much to my disgust, Friday night, a coon broke into the coop and killed all my layers, but six. Including my beloved sweet roo who held on until yesterday. This is the second time this year, a coon has managed to get in. So we took down all the old chicken wire and replaced it.
Need to start seeding for a fall garden, realized yesterday that our pump line is out of the water. Running it further out today.
I'm green with envy to those who have an apple season, how cool! Do you make a pie every week? I would!
cocoa_lulu i m so sorry to hear of that coon getting your layers. So heartbroken feeling. i know when i had a great set of layers and great broody mama's and in 3 days .... coyote got them all ! i was crushed..
we got several inches of rain and some nasty storms with it too last night.
today is pickled beet day
was going to do the squash too, but no onions ..uhg... how did i forget that ?!
got tomato's in dehydrator and some green beans. cranked it up to 155 . hope it helps with this humidity in the basement .
got one more 25 lb box of tomato and then i think i m done ! ? with tomato's
honestly i wish i did more corn but just didn't have the energy this year.
welp time to get busy
Have been researching water power and found this:
http://www.meribah-ram-pump.com/index1.aspx
am going to "home build" one and test it on my mothers creek.
Darius would you be interested in watering your garden plot this way?
Thanks, Dyson. Ram pumps have always fascinated me! I've been watering the garden from the submersible pump in my spring, but lately the water level is so low I get lots of algae. I'd be delighted to NOT use electricity to water (or pay for chlorinated city water which has been my only other option).
I'll be interested in following your project!
Sue, it's about time for me to do some canning too. Not looking forward to it, but always love the jars on the shelf later!
Well, I'm now as prepared for the rains from "Lee" as I can be. Moved lots of stuff up to higher ground today, between rains. Our creek is already full from rainfall over the last 3 days, and it looks like 4 straight days of probably heavy rain headed our way. We've been under a flood watch all day. Sigh.
Well, I'm now as prepared for the rains from "Lee" as I can be. Moved lots of stuff up to higher ground today, between rains. Our creek is already full from rainfall over the last 3 days, and it looks like 4 straight days of probably heavy rain headed our way. We've been under a flood watch all day. Sigh.
Sue, you need to learn to lacto-ferment some veggies, esp. beets. They are yummy and healthier than vinegared beet pickles.
The Barbeque was a bust due to the weather. All my firewood was sooooo wet. I got it to burn, but not enough to cook over. Luckily,the party itself rocked. I have a wolfgang puck cafe grill/griddle and I broke it out. I cooked steaks for 19 folks along with sweet corn, and O'Brien. All in all it was a good time. Just no decent fire.
darius stay safe and dry. Hoping the rains don't get to bad for you. Lacto fernent like as in saurkraut ? yes i have been thinking of that lately also. may try it this fall.
glad the party was a success. to bad about the fire. Food sounds yummy .
Beets i canned i m not happy with . :(
the pickled beets i think are to fiburous. they just didn't seem to cook enough to be soft . soooo i m hoping the WB did some softening .
the pressure canner beets i only got 3 qts. so i had none left over to make more pickled beets . These i m doing for fair next summer.
so i have time if i need more LOL
MIL loves them so i guess i will take em to her
bbl
Sue, lacto-fermenting is so much more than just sauerkraut... almost any vegetable but green beans.
Great salvage job Nik!
I make saurkraut every year in a 5-gallon bucket. I buy a brand new one from Tractor Supply and fill it with shredded cabbage and kosher salt and pound it down. Then lay a trash bag with water in it on top. 6 weeks later (or thereabouts) voila!! Saurkraut!!! My mother and sisters love it. It goes great with smoked sausage or metts or brats. I also know you can do corn and shelled (but not green) beans that way. Women who are menstrating should not handle or even be near saurkraut as it ferments, and that's probably true about the other stuff that you lacto-ferment.
My house is pretty well cleaned up from the goings on last night. The chickens got the leftover o"brien and the one left over steak is simmering away in the crockpot with some onions, carrots, potatoes and later a bit of barley. It'll make a pretty good stew for supper tonight.
I have 6 more serama chicks pipping/hatching. These are beautiful chicks and are going to sell for about $100 each. The welsh harlequin ducks will start hatching in about another 9 days. Life is good.
In prepping for the coming onslaught of rain yesterday, I completely forgot about my annual herbs that will probably be flooded too. So I just cut about half a bushel of several basils, with some perennial thyme and garlic chives growing in the same bed. My office, where I have spread them on trays to dry, smells wonderful!
So far, it looks like the creek is up about 2 feet, and can probably take nearly that much more before flooding into the yard... and it's only Monday morning. The worst is due tomorrow and Wednesday.
That's how I do kraut too, Nik... but I use my Harsch crock or sometimes half-gallon jars since there's just me to eat it. The pounding really helps release a lot of juice!
i do have the food grade buckets i have been saving. i will go get some cabbage today.
you all have me intereseted
so i use kosher salt ? or can i use pickling salt ? does it matter .
getting excited about kraut !
darius sure hope you aren't flooded this week .
i will go look at your blog thanks :)
pickling salt is the same as kosher salt, both are Morton products but often the pickling salt is less expensive.
Sue, I would use a water-filled (or brine-filled) FOOD GRADE plastic bag, not a trash bag as the cover... Too many chemicals in trash bags to suit me for a food product.
Hey Sue... I just remembered this video... great intro to lacto-fermenting by the kraut king, Sandor Katz!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i77hU3zR-fQ
By the way Nik... that statement about menstruating women not being near ferments is an old wives' tale, although still honored in some religions.
http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/menses.asp
I think quite a few of those things are old wives' tales. The menstrating women thing is possibly one of them. Or it could be that since everyone is unique it doesn't apply to everyone. The Amish even believe that women shouldn't be in the garden during that time. But who really knows? I'm not a woman, and Debbie is past all that, so it's a non-issue here. But my Mama told me how GrandPa opened up a can of whoop ass on her for claiming to be, when she wasn't. She HATED washing that cheese cloth and board and everything. She laughs when she tells the story. I get the idea she was a bit of a scammer where GrandPa was concerned.
That's a funny story, Nik!
Somehow we managed to miss major, serious flooding and tornadoes from the rains from TS Lee. We got rain a'plenty though, and the closest tornadoes were 50 miles away. I discovered my back porch storage room has a major roof leak, and so does the outbuilding I use for storing my non-garden tools. I picked up some wide valley flashing and roofing felt at Lowe's yesterday for the back porch roof, but it needs to dry out first and we still have some lighter rain. The shed has a tin roof, so I have to get a ladder to see what is needed to fix it.
Fortunately, there wasn't much wet damage to that back room contents... I had recently emptied most of it while I'm fixing it up with an added window for ventilation, and vinyl flooring so I can put the 2 freezers in there. I got the room wired yesterday with an overhead 4' shop light and 3 receptacles, but they aren't live yet. Still have to run wiring from that room under the house and up to the elec. panel. Today I hope to get the sheet flooring installed; I got a good deal on a high-quality remnant since I didn't care what the pattern looks like!
darius glad you didn't get hit with any bad storms or toranado's
not much going on here
just cold and drizzly
got a new bunny for my son. Its a Netherland dwarf Steele color. we have a ND chestnut color one both are bucks.
hope to get a female in the spring from the same breeder.
got two other rabbits mini rex but they are not show quality. hmmmm what to do with them ? LOL o k o k i won't do that to my son's pets LOL
got some great honey from the apple orchard down the road... oh its sooo good. With a hint of apple and blossom undertones ... oh so yummy. hope i can get more.
so i have 1/2 bushel of apples with my name on them. doing some drying and sauce tomorrow.
Sue, sounds like the apple honey really is yummy!! I still have a little local honey left from the 6 quarts I bought 2-3 years ago. Wish I remembered where the place was... they had half an acre or so of berry bushes, but it was just a regular rural homestead, not a small farming venture.
My roofing job was tedious, taking off rotted shingles and putting on new valley flashing and roofing paper as a temporary measure. That section of roofing was previous-homeowner-added nearly flat roof over the back porch, and I'm going to have to add a larger whole new roof over it to increase the pitch.
We are still having drainage problems when we run the washer. Whoever designed (or modified) the plumbing for this single-wide did a piss-poor job. The master bathtub bubbles up when the washer drains, and so does the kitchen sink. No money for a plumber either so I have to fix it myself. I need to take the washing machine drain off the lines to the septic tank, and divert the water to a dry well.
I was under the house twice yesterday (front and then back), no easy task because I have to inch in and out on my belly rather than crawl because there isn't much space under the trailer anyway, and now there's also all the new HVAC duct work to squeeze under. Fortunately my sis had a tyvek disposable coverall she bought some time ago for installing fiberglass insulation. I didn't do any work under the house yesterday, just figuring out what to do... and today I need to go back and start on a new drain for the washer. Yuck.
Eventually I will channel the grey water through a series of small ponds to filter it into the new garden area I'm planning.
Sounds like a lot of work, but that grey water will be priceless!
Busy as a bee here and lots to tell when I get the chance...one quick question tho.
We got two 20lb piglets today and I still haven't managed to trap the raccoon that wiped out my flock last week. His foot prints are around the coop each morning, so I know it's still around.
Would a large raccoon go after the piglets?
Go to TS and get a Hav-a-hart trap. Coons might go after piglets that small...
*sigh* That's what we've been using, by the size of the prints it looks to be really large and I think it's reaching through sides to pull out the bait. We placed some wood panels around the sides last night and I think it moved them around. Tonight, I'll try wrapping a sheet around it multiple times...if it wants the bait, it will have no other way to get to it.
I appreciate it! We'll keep them in the trailer till safe!
coons quickly learn to manipulate the traps when you use them often.
i tried using one and they just didn't work after several tries. The coons just are to smart.
I have not had much problem with coons in the last several months, but when we see them walking in daylight and walking funny .well..... its not a good sign.
i think our neighbor is poisoning them and they come on our property and slowly die. poor things.
watching a mama deer and two fawns. they still have spots .. pretty cute.
Cocoa ~ what are you using for coon bait? Could you attach it so they couldn't pull it through the sides?
Darius ~ it sounds as though a vent pipe is lacking or plugged. Any thoughts on that?
Fall seed germination and a third Hugelkultur bed built and planted for the perennial onions.
Harvested the first canteloupe today as it split before totally ripe. Still tastes wonderful but I need to research and find out why it split.
pod... Oh, there's a vent pipe alright, and I doubt it's plugged (but I WILL check!). Problem is that there's only one, right near the middle of about a 30' right-angle run from bath sink to tub to clothes washer and on to the kitchen sink. Vent pipe goes straight up into the attic about midway in the run, but then 18' clear back across the house to vent through the roof on the backside. Stupidest layout I ever saw!
Fortunately, my private bath is at the other end of the house, and is plumbed/vented properly. Well, except for no shut-off valves on the water lines... in fact, none in the whole house. I bought a gazillion valves 2 years ago, and enough red and blue PEX tubing to replace all the hot and cold water lines... but I cannot do it all by myself.
I didn't get everything finished I had hoped during the 4 days my sis was off and willing to work. But we DID get a lot done. Midday today we decided the waferboard I used on the interior walls 2 years ago really should be painted since the new flooring looked so nice. A trip to the store and two coats later, it looks better but needs a 3rd coat. Waferboard just sucks up $30/gallon paint! Maybe next week on her 2 days off, we can finish painting the storage room and I can get the door hung. Meanwhile I still have to seal every tiny crevice from field mice... and get back to my gardening!
I should have had my sis take a photo of me today in my tyvek jumpsuit when I went back under the house (again)... I looked like those folks on TV walking around nuclear contaminated sites!
pod, I'm thinking about hugelkulture beds... How deep/thick is your base?